Iron Man

This is where it all started. The MCU, the biggest saga of all time, kicks off right here, and watching it back in a theater with the boys hit different knowing everything that came after.

Marvel struck gold with RDJ. That's not a hot take, that's just gospel at this point. He IS Tony Stark. The arrogance, the charm, the emotion underneath all the smartass one-liners, he nails every bit of it. You cannot picture another human being in that role. They cast him and the whole universe got built on his shoulders. Imagine if they'd whiffed on that one decision. There's no MCU. There's no Avengers. There's nothing. He's the foundation.

Marvel struck gold with RDJ.

He embodies Tony so completely that even now, all these years later, you watch this first movie and it doesn't feel like an actor figuring out a character. It feels like he's been doing it his whole life.

My one gripe, and it's a small one, is Gwyneth Paltrow. She just does not do it for me. Never has. Pepper Potts is a great character on paper and I think she deserves somebody who brings a little more to the role. Every time she's on screen I'm just kind of waiting for it to cut back to Tony. That's a me problem maybe, but I'm being honest.

Seeing this in a theater absolutely made it better. There's a different energy watching the suit come together on a big screen with a crowd that knows what this movie eventually became. It blew me away more than I thought it would going in, and it stuck with me after the credits rolled.

The beginning of the saga. And what a way to start.